Cadogan Place

In 1777 Lord Cadogan leased 100 acres of land to architect Henry Holland (1745-1806) for building development.

After the Great Fire of London in the previous century, wealthy Londoners had not wanted to return to the crowded, dangerous conditions of the old medieval City. Instead they flocked to the new estates being built in the countryside to the west of London.

These self-contained communities, based around squares, offered a different, healthier way of life. Thousands of wealthy people migrated to live in the new West End, while continuing to do business in the City, becoming in effect London's first commuters.

The building lease system, which had first been used by Lord Southampton in Bloomsbury Square, was very popular with the owners of country estates close to London. Plots were leased to builders at a low ground rent, usually for 99 years, after which the land and houses became the property of the landowner again.

Henry Holland built what he called 'Hans Town' on Lord Cadogan's land, consisting of Sloane Square, Sloane Street, Cadogan Place and Hans Place. The simple terraced houses of stock brick became immediately fashionable among the upper middle and professional classes. Charles Dickens described the area in Nicholas Nickelby as the connecting link between 'the aristocratic pavements of Belgrave Square and the barbarism of Chelsea'.

Cadogan Place was the first square to be developed by Henry Holland, together with Sloane Square. The garden is divided into two parts. The southern part, which you are walking beside now, was once known as the London Botanic Garden, and was laid out at the end of the 18th century by William Salisbury (d. 1823/9), containing a library, hothouse, greenhouse and conservatory.

Number 43B was where anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce (1759-1833) spent the final days of his life, at the home of his cousin. Wilberforce and others campaigned for almost two decades to bring an end to the British slave trade, finally succeeding in 1807. Three days before his death in 1833, he heard that the bill to abolish slavery altogether had been passed, the culmination of his life's work.

The square was built on the site of Henry Holland's own mansion, which originally opened on to Hans Place. The mansion had a miniature landscape park, including a 16-acre meadow, formal flowerbeds laid out in French fashion and a gothic icehouse.

Wilton Crescent was laid out in 1827 as part of the new Grosvenor Estate, built on the lands of the Duke of Westminster. The buildings on the north side were refaced with stone in the early 1900s, making them look different from the stuccoed terraces which are a characteristic feature of the rest of the estate.

Belgrave Square in 1828

Belgrave Square today

The Grosvenor family, who later became the Dukes of Westminster, acquired the land in 1677 when Sir Thomas Grosvenor married Mary Davies, heiress to some 1000 acres of boggy farmland west of London. The area was originally known as the Five Fields, feared in the 18th century as a place 'where robbers lie in wait'.

The Grosvenors had already developed some of their land in nearby Mayfair, and in the early 1800s turned their attention to the Five Fields, after the king brought in top architect John Nash to remodel the nearby Buckingham House with the aim of making it the main royal residence.

Lord Grosvenor saw the potential, and in 1820 commissioned plans for the new estate. Building leases were sold to developers, the main one being Thomas Cubitt. He drained the marshy fields using spoil from his excavation of St Katherine's Dock, near the Tower of London, to raise the land.

Thomas Cubitt (1788-1855) was the leading developer of the early 19th century. He was the first large-scale commercial builder, employing his own workforce including dozens of brick-makers, masons, plasterers and painters. He also had a professional staff of architects and surveyors, as well as his own legal and letting departments.

Between 1820 and 1835, Cubitt built the houses and laid out the gardens of most of the estate. He realised that a lavishly planted garden was a major selling point for wealthy buyers, and established his own nursery specifically for the purpose.

Belgrave Square was established in 1825, with George Basevi as architect. It was named after the village of Belgrave in Leicestershire, part of the Grosvenor family estates.

Now largely occupied by embassies and other organisations, the grand, stuccoed residences of the square were once home to wealthy families who flocked to live close to Buckingham Palace.

Prince Henry the Navigator is one of four statues of historical figures which surround the square, reflecting its international nature. He was a Portuguese prince whose sailors travelled widely to uncharted parts of the ocean, discovering the island of Madeira and exploring the West African coast.

Looking across the road, number 34 was home to Field Marshall Viscount Gort (1886-1946), commander in chief at Dunkirk, who lived here from 1920 to 1926. A lifelong soldier, he displayed great bravery in the First World War, and rose to become the youngest ever Chief of the Imperial Staff.

Continue along to the fourth corner of the square, where there is a statue of Christopher Columbus, whose voyages across the Atlantic to the Americas opened up a new era of European exploration and colonisation.

Looking a little further along, 99 Eaton Place is where the Polish composer, Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) gave concerts during a stay in London in 1848. Like many others, Chopin had taken refuge here from the uprisings in much of Europe, during what was known as 'the year of revolutions'.

The long, narrow square is divided by cross-cutting roads into six rectangular gardens, which are filled with mature trees and colourful roses. The site originally contained market gardens. Due to the slow progress of building around the square, the northern part of the garden, which you are looking at now, remained a nursery, belonging to the firm of McKenzie, until 1842.

Number 93 was home to Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947), who was Prime Minister three times in the 1920s and 1930s. His time in office coincided with both the General Strike and the abdication of Edward VIII. Baldwin began the policy of appeasement towards fascist dictators in Europe, which was continued by another resident of Eaton Square, Neville Chamberlain, who we will meet later on.

At number 44, Austrian statesman Prince Metternich (1773-1859), lived with his family in 1848. The family, like Chopin, had taken flight from the popular uprisings that were occurring across Europe in 'the year of revolutions', and took refuge in Eaton Square from May to September.